1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a multilayer capacitor and a method for producing the multilayer capacitor. In particular, the present invention relates to an ultra-small multilayer capacitor and a method for producing the ultra-small multilayer capacitor.
2. Description of the Related Art
In general, a multilayer capacitor is constituted by a multilayer body made up of conductive layers and dielectric layers arranged in an alternating manner; and outer electrodes disposed on the outside surface of the multilayer body. With electronic devices becoming smaller and thinner, there is a need for a small-sized multilayer capacitor with large electrostatic capacitance. General ways to increase the capacitance of the multilayer capacitor is to increase the area of overlap between adjacent conductive layers and increase the number of conductive layers.
In the case where the multilayer capacitor is reduced in size and the capacitance thereof is increased in the general ways described above, the distance from the conductive layers to the surface of the multilayer body becomes small. In general, the outer electrodes are likely to become thinner at the corners of the multilayer body. Because of these, conductive layers near the corners of the multilayer body become susceptible to moisture coming in through the outer electrodes, and the insulation resistance of the multilayer capacitor decreases. That is, the moisture resistance of the multilayer capacitor decreases.
Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2010-103566 discloses a highly moisture-resistant small multilayer capacitor. The multilayer capacitor disclosed in this document has a high moisture resistance because the concentration of magnesium is high in a dielectric disposed between conductive layers and the side surfaces of the multilayer body.
Increasing the number of conductive layers leads to an increase in internal stress, which results from the difference in thermal shrinkage between dielectric layers and conductive layers when the multilayer capacitor is fired. This makes the multilayer capacitor prone to layer separation.